WASHINGTON — A fuel spill on the Capital Beltway’s Outer Loop in Prince George’s County caused a chaotic commute during Tuesday evening’s rush hour.
A crash led about 700 gallons of diesel fuel to spill onto the Outer Loop around 3:30 p.m. The fuel spill cleanup was completed and all lanes of the Outer Loop were reopened as of around 11:20 p.m.
As a result of the crash and cleanup, all lanes of the roadway stopped between Saint Barnabas Road and Branch Avenue.
On the Outer Loop, traffic was diverted at Exit 4B/Saint Barnabas Road as crews cleaned up the area.
Even though the Outer Loop crash impacted a relatively small area, the traffic delays extended well beyond that portion of the roadway. As of 5:45 p.m., traffic delays were felt on the Inner and Outer loops and beyond.
“The accident is actually on the Outer Loop but because it can be seen on the Inner Loop, it’s causing a distraction and backing up the Inner Loop almost the entire way around the Beltway,” said Jim Battagliese, WTOP’s director of Traffic and Transit Operations.
The traffic caused gridlock in Prince George’s County and stretched along Interstate 295, backing up traffic onto the Southeast-Southwest Freeway, Battagliese added.
“So trying to get downtown [would have been] horrible — and combined with rush hour volume,” Battagliese said.
Downtown was among the popular destinations Tuesday evening with an Adele concert at the Verizon Center.
The delays happened the same day as major Metro delays, too. Blue and Orange line trains continued to use a single track between the Smithsonian and Federal Center Southwest stations until the end of the service day.
